My West Oz grow

[McGoo]

Well, I have been lurking here for a while, finally got a camera, and decided to post a grow. Partly so I could show what Im doing (nothing amazing), but also so hopefully people can let me know some things I am confused about.
All of my plants have been bought as seedlings from nurseries, as I have only been into growing chillies for a few months. I only have about half of my plants where I am at the moment, the other half are in Perth. Im working on a farm for a little while, and decided to bring some plants with me to give me some stress relief (the reason I got into gardening in the first place), I should be able to see what is happening with the other half of the garden in a few weeks time. These first pics I took about a month ago, the current ones will be in the next post:

This is my first orange habanero that I bought, it was initially the hottest plant (by a long way) that I had. I now have 4 of them, and some hotter ones. The leaves looked shrivelled for a while, I wasnt sure if it was the wind up here or insects, so I opted for a wind barrier and a healthy dose of bug spray. Looks a lot better now!

Mini Sweet Chocolate capsicum - bought purely because I thought it would be fun to have something with brown fruit.

Red Cayenne - at the time I was eating a lot of cayenne powder, and also my father in law uses it to make spicy sausage, so I got it to make powder from.

My serranno, not sure what this one will end up being used for, but it wa sin the mursery when I was itching for another plant, so it came home with me.
Thats all the pictures I have of them when they were young, have changed a lot of things since then, have made a lot of mistakes, but hopefully done more things right!

 

[moyboy]

Welcome from Newcastle NSW mate......

Plants are looking good......looking forward to seeing them as they are now!!!!!

 

[McGoo]

Here are the pictures I took today, looks a hell of a lot nicer than it did last time!

This is all of the plants together. You can kind of see some the milk jugs lying around the pots, these areto try and keep the temperature a little more constant. We get some very warm days here (35-40 degrees C), and some cold nights (5-10 C), a result of being 400km from the ocean. Water absorbs and emits a lot of energy (heat) before it changes temperature itself very much. I have felt them late at night, and have noticed up to a 10 C difference (at a guess).
The list of plants:
Mini Sweet Chocolate Capsicum
Red Cayenne
Jalapeno
Serranno
Thai Inferno
Scotch Bonnet
Red Savina
Orange Habanero x 2
Hungarian Yellow


Plants in perth:
Hoa lat
Inferno (I think its some type of birdseye)
Mild (my first plant)
Orange Habanero x 2
Black Pearl

and pictures

Mini sweet chocolate capsicum
This one set one fruit, got left in a gale force wind for 48 hours, and then decided to drop all flowers except for this one fruit. Im waiting for it to ripen a little, then will pluck it so the plant grows more.

Some of the Orange Habaneroes
These plants seemed to be suffering quite a lot initially, the leaves were small, crinkled, and narrow, with some yellowing. Since they have been bug sprayed and protected from the wind, they are starting to look like the ones in everyone else's pictures. They are still small though, only 12" tall, but are starting to flower. Should I be pinching them out to keep them vegetating longer?

My Scotch Bonnet Fruit
This is my favourite, it looks so damn funky compared to all the other fruits I have. Plant has almost doubled in height in the 3 weeks since I bought it.

I have been watering with tomato food once every two weeks, and have also been spraying the leaves with magnesium spray at the same time. Some of the plants are in potting mix, some are in my own concoction, very hard to do a direct comparison between themn though, as they have different plants in the different soils.

Feel free to throw in any hints or ideas on how these could be done better, am still earning a lot!

 

[McGoo]

A question for anyone who knows about bugs- what is this guy?

I seem to have a few of them around the place every now and then. Are they good or bad? I have lady bugs drop by every now and then, and I have had a spider take up residence inside a curled up leaf, both of which seemed to be eating the other bugs. This one, though, perplexes me.

 

[McGoo]

Hmmm. Just had a look at my post. Wont be using .gif again, looks horrible.

 

[moyboy]

Mate looks like you are doing a great job.....

I would check to see how much nitrigen is in the tomato food as chillis don't like lots of nitrigen and flowers will fall off more easily.....

I wouldn't worry about pinching the orange hab....they are a hugh producer and will still grow well even with fruit...

 

[McGoo]

Thanks Moyboy, always nice to feel welcome. Im using Yates tomato food at the mo, was the best I could find around the place, it says its 8:3:10.2 NPK, sounded a hell of a lot better than the thrive 27:5:10 I was using before that! I had a lot of flower drop when they got transplanted and wind stressed in the same day, thats the trouble with having to go away for the weekend. So far, only the scotch bonnet has dropped any flowers without setting fruit, out of the 6 or 7 that have opened so far. The rest of them would be setting fruit on 90-95% of the flowers, I figure that is pretty good!

 

[imaguitargod]

Welcome McGoo! You plants are looking good!

 

[pepperfever]

Welcome from Minnesota McGoo, plants look great.

 

[Armadillo]

Welcome from Lake Constance, Germany!

Good job! 2009 will be my first real growing year and I hope my plants will do about as fine as your's!

 

[moyboy]

Thanks Moyboy, always nice to feel welcome. Im using Yates tomato food at the mo, was the best I could find around the place, it says its 8:3:10.2 NPK, sounded a hell of a lot better than the thrive 27:5:10 I was using before that! I had a lot of flower drop when they got transplanted and wind stressed in the same day, thats the trouble with having to go away for the weekend. So far, only the scotch bonnet has dropped any flowers without setting fruit, out of the 6 or 7 that have opened so far. The rest of them would be setting fruit on 90-95% of the flowers, I figure that is pretty good!

MAte flower drop is a common thing with young plants regardless of the nutrients they are fed, so don't worry about that....they will all start setting soon enough......

That's a pretty good fertilizer there.....I will have to look for it....

 

[Nova]

Welcome McGoo, hey you stole my nickname My parents have called me McGoo since i was a little tacker, something about me running blindly into things!!
Your plants look really nice mate, glad to have you here.

 

[Hotpeppa]

The West is the Best !

Go Perthians !

lol

 

[bigt]

A question for anyone who knows about bugs- what is this guy?
I seem to have a few of them around the place every now and then. Are they good or bad? I have lady bugs drop by every now and then, and I have had a spider take up residence inside a curled up leaf, both of which seemed to be eating the other bugs. This one, though, perplexes me.

Nice looking plants. That bug just looks like a type of small fly to me. I wouldn't worry unless you have hundreds of them congregated on one plant. I like those plastic pots with the big lips for grabbing, very nice.

 

[McGoo]

Nice looking plants. That bug just looks like a type of small fly to me. I wouldn't worry unless you have hundreds of them congregated on one plant. I like those plastic pots with the big lips for grabbing, very nice.

Hmmm, guess I'll stop worrying so much then. They get a dose of pyrethrum every now and then, mainly whenever I think the bugs are looking sinister. Thanks for the compliments, I keep looking at everyone else's pictures and thinking "Why dont mine look that good?"

 

[McGoo]

Crap. Forecast today is 39 Degrees celcius. And its already windy. Possible thunderstorms later on today. Hope the plants can take it!

 

[BrianS]

You have a nice start there McGoo! I am really envious of you all down there in Oz where it is warm while I am up here with ice on my front porch LOL

 

[McGoo]

You have a nice start there McGoo! I am really envious of you all down there in Oz where it is warm while I am up here with ice on my front porch LOL

Thanks, Im not so envious of the weather where I am at the moment, yesterday was 32 C, 60-80 km/h winds, 12% humidity. Not exactly optimal, although the plants were fairly well protected. I think what I am seeing in the following pics is wind burn, any other suggestions?

Orange Habanero

Red Savina


There are some other leaves that look like this as well. Wind burn seems to be the most likely thing, I did fertilise them 3 days ago, but it wasnt enough to burn them (at least it never hurt them before). Im sticking to 2 weeks between tomato food, and the spray of epsom salts, seems to be the best from what everyone says. They are getting watered every day here, it is hot enough that I could go to 2 waterings per day here, and the plants still wilt a little bit sometimes. Hopefully everything becomes less extreme when I move back to perth in a few days time. Minimal wind, 10 degree change from day to night, and some humidity. Sounds good!

Here are some happy pics I wanted to put up. The scotch bonnet only has the one big fruit, and another junior one, but it just looks nasty!

This jalapeno I am only growing because my mum loves the fruits, but we only get them once per year, sent over from queensland. It hasnt needed any special attention from me, and hasnt done anything much apart from grow steadily. The perfect plant!

A week or so ago I made a sauce out of chipotle peppers my mum had laying around, and some smoked anchos as well. I saw the seeds that were about to be thrown away, and though, "Hmmm,,wonder if they will still sprout." I put them into a sealed sandwich bag between moist paper towel, and lo and behold, I so far have about 10 spouted seeds! I didnt think anything would still be viable, am now wondering what to do with the other possible 100 seedlings. Seems like such a waste! I also got some seeds from a store bought chilli, Im guessing it was a commercial variety, it was about 4 inches long, round, and bright red, the classical chilli shape I would guess. Have planted some of those seeds as well, could be an interesting one to grow. The thought that any ripe chilli I see I can grow makes me very happy, but also very nervous about the negotiations with my wife about how much of our tiny yard I can use.

 

[McGoo]

January Update

Time I put something in here about what has been happening. I have moved back to perth, and now have all my plants in the one spot. Unfortunately, I must have thought my yard was bigger than it really is, as it is now packed full of pots.

There are a couple out of frame in this one, but this shot shows 75% of the yard. My wife is not impressed. We have some big gum trees outside the yard as well, so the spots that recieve sunlight are the premium ones. A rework is coming, or so I am told. Over all, the chillies that were travelling with me have improved a lot since coming to the coast. Im guessing it is the warmer overnight temps that has done it, much more constant here. The hungarian yellow has gone from 3 leaves to about 25 in 10 days or so, the cayenne has doubled in foliage, the habaneroes have taken off, its only really the established ones that havent changed much yet. Also, the ones in the heavier soil (some were grown in potting mix, some in heavy clay loams from the farm) have improved the most. Maybe they really needed the extra heat to be able to use the heavy soil properly. Any smart people out there care to comment?

These are the smaller plants, some capsicum plants, a black pearl, some basil, a serranno, and some jiffy pots in the ice cream tub. I wanted to see how well they would germinate in the direct sunlight, as it saves hardening off later, something my schedule makes impossible.

My Scotch bonnet again. This is a new fruit than last time, that one went in a beer drinking session with my cousin. It now has 5 fruits on it, all looking deadly.

I got some seeds for christmas, and have planted some in jiffy pots. I have now added to the mix:
Tabasco
Habanero White Jellybean
Chiltepin
Two I got from the supermarket
Burke's Backyard Thai Chilli
Peter Pepper
Black Namaqualand
Goatsweed
Flourescent Purple
Scotch Bonnet Yellow
Bishop's Crown

From the pictures of the yard above, you might bewondering where these are going to go. So am I. Im thinking that by the time these new ones need to go outside, the tomatoes will be gone, and there will be a major reshuffle of what is grown. I dont see the point in spending $20-30 on growing $15 worth of tomatoes (per pot), when for the same money I can grow much more valuable and hard to find chillies. I enjoy growing anything I can eat, but with such a small space to work with, I think more herbs and rare things will be grown in the coming year.

Still waiting to be planted are:
Ancho
Aji Omnicolour
Habanero Limon
Habanero Red
Goat Hot Chilli (came covered in chinese writing. "Learn Engrish in ten super fun happy step.") Might be goatsweed, will wait and see.
Some seeds I have pulled from supermarket chillies. Nothing amazing, but some jumbo looking fruits.

 

[Scorpion]

Hey mcgoo how are you? Im from freo and have a fairly large chilli plantation around 300 or so and 50 different varieties...feel free to come round....i sent you a PM. Good looking plants mate!